This article may come as a surprise to you...

Pizza. It's the weakness of many, many people including me. I love pizza- always have. I eat it in moderation, but it's still one of my favorite foods.

There's now good news for pizza lovers.

According to Men's Health magazine, research concludes that pizza can be good for you. We're talking about, however, real pizza- not the kind you get from Pizza Hut, Dominoes or the frozen food section of your supermarket. By real, I mean pizza made with real tomato sauce and olive oil.

According to Men's Health, scientists writing in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating pizza can reduce your risk of a heart attack. In a 4-year study of nearly 1,000 Italians, those who ate pizza at least once a week were 30 percent less likely to experience a heart attack than the folks who didn't partake of the pie.

This is contributed to pizza's cardio protective ingredients, including olive oil and tomato sauce. Here's the secret: top the pizza with vegetables, part-skim cheese and thin crust and you've got a meal that is actually good for you.

Can you get this kind of a pizza in a pizzeria? Most likely not. Instead you'll have to buy the ingredients at your local grocery store and make the pizza yourself. Speaking from experience, however, this can be a fun thing!

Enjoy the experience of making your own pizza and savoring a nutritious meal. After all, feeding your body with nutritious meals is the number one thing you can do for better health.

Copyright 2005 Ryan Cote

Ryan Cote is the author of http://www.4DaysToBetterHealth.com, a free healthy living e-course that includes more detailed nutrition advice.